The Fall 2010 auction of Latin American Art at
Sotheby's is highlighted by several fine works by Wilfredo Lam, Rufino
Tamayo, Claudio Bravo and Matta,

The cover illustration of the catalogue is a large and major painting
by Wilfredo Lam (1902-1982), Lot
14, entitled "Les Abalochas Dansent Purt Dhambala, Dieu de L'Unité."
An oil on canvas, it measures 83 7/8 by 96 inches and was
executed in 1970. It has an estimate of $1,750,000
to $2,250,000. It
sold for $2,154,500 including the buyer's premium as do all results
mentioned in this article. It set a new world auction record for
the artist.

After the auction, Carmen Melián, Head of Latin American Art at Sotheby’s said:

“The
sale was in part an homage to Wifredo Lam. The $2.1 million achieved
for the cover lot was well deserved and we are thrilled to have once
again broken the auction record for this major artist. Les Abalochas is
a very special painting that brought together many aspects of his life
– Cubism, surrealism, his Afro-Cuban heritage and his association with
the avant-garde movement CoBrA. One of the high points of the sale was
the section of 19th century Mexican works – the quality was superb and
sparked heated competition amongst Mexican collectors and many new
records were set in both sessions. Equally sought-after was the
recently rediscovered panel by the father of abstraction in Venezuela,
Alejandro Otero, which also brought a record price. The success of
surrealism continued in the day session where there were strong prices
for the surrealist master Matta as well as a number of records for
contemporary artists including Juan Manuel Hernández and León Ferrari.”

"Latin
American abstraction continued its surge in popularity. Six bidders
competed for Alejandro Otero’s lost masterpiece Coloritmo 9, which set
a new record for the artist when it sold for $752,500 (est.$250/350,000).
Records were also set for Luis Tomasello, whose Atmosphere
Chromoplastique Nº 281 brought $170,500 (est. $80/100,000) and Abraham
Palatnik, when his Progressão-42A sold for $182,500 (est.
$150/200,000)."

"Mexican paintings from the 19th century
achieved a series of record prices - El Requiebro by José Agustín
Arrieta and Cruzando El Lago De Texcoco,Con Volcanes by Eugenio
Landesio, sold for $482,500 each (est. $180/220,000); while Indio Con
Traje De Gala En Puesto De Comida by Édouard-Henri-Théophile Pingret
more than doubled the high estimate to fetch $302,500 (est.
$90/120,000). All three were part of a group of paintings from the
collection of Mrs. Vera da Costa Autrey, which also included Leonora
Carrington’s Snake Bite Floripondio which soared past the high estimate
to sell for $338,500 (est. $150/200,000)."

"The day session
included a number of strong and often record-setting prices for living
artists. El Encuentro I and II, a 2008 diptych by Juan Manuel Hernández
sold for $107,500, double the pre-sale estimate and a new record for
the artist (est. $40/60,000). Also setting a new auction record was
Descala by Cildo Meirles which fetched $68,500 – more than three times
the high estimate (est. $18/22,000). León Ferrari is one of Argentina’s
most important modernist painters who, along with Mira Schendel, was
the subject of the 2009 MOMA exhibition Tangled Alphabets; a record was
set for the artist when an Untitled work from 2003 sold for $68,500
(est. $45/55,000)."

The catalogue provides the following commentary on the Lam painting (Lot 14) by Dr.
Julia P. Herzberg:

"As an insider, Lam embraced Afro-Cuban subjects at a time when few
artists in the western world were engaged in dialogues addressing
cross-cultural, ethnic, and spiritial themes....His practice slowly but
undeniably changed the direction and understanding of Modernism.
Master of line, for, and color, the artist absorbed the
lessons of cubism, expanded the parameters of surrealism, and mediated
the fine line between figuration and abstraction. His work,
which expresses human emotions - pain, suffering, loss - and references
war, independence movements, and spirtuality, became a paradigm for
future generations of artists who have expressed their
socio-politico-spiritual histories in visual form....The word
Abalochas...is most likely a phonetic variant of the more common
babaloches...or priests of a deity in the Afro-Cuban religion known
alternately in Cuba as Lucumi, Regla de Ocha, Saneria, or Orisha
worship. ....Damballah is the creole name in Haiti for the
rainbow-serpent, whose consort, Ayida Whedo, is also a serpent of the
sky. In worship the intermingling of Damballah's body with
that of Ayida in the form of two snakes is a sign of union and
estacsy..., a spiritual state suggested in part through the title and
hinted at in the iconography of the painting.....He became acquainted
with the vodou worship of Haitiains living and working in
Cuba."

Lam, she continued, attended Vodou ceremonies with André Bretton and
the ceremonies were, acording to one expert, "a vibrant, sophisticated
synthesis of the tradiitonal religions of Dahomey, Yoruba and Kongo
with an infusion of Roman Catholicism."

Another very
strong painting by Lam is Lot 35, "Untitled (Figura Vegetal)."
An oil on canvas that measures 32 3/8 by 28 1/2 inches, it
was painted in 1950. While it is composition is much simpler,
it is an extremely bold and strong work. It has an estimate
of $300,000 to $400,000. It was passed at $200,000.

An earlier
fine work by Lam is Lot 31, "Nu à La Chaise," a tempera on paper laid
down on canvas. It was executed in 1942 and measures 65 by 38
1/2 inches. The catalogue notes that this work is a synthesis
of the interiors he painted in Paris, where he was friendly with
Picasso and the Surrealists. The nude, the entry noted, is
"drawn in a sinuous and sensual manner that breathes the air of the
tropics." It has a modest estimate of $300,000 to $400,000. It was withdrawn.

Matta
(1911-2002) was a major member of the Surrealist circle and the auction
has several excellent works by him.

Lot 140, "Triumphéros," is an extremely impressive late
and large work. An oil on canvas, it measures 82 by 159 1/4
inches andwas executed in 1985. It is from a series of
monumental works relating to Greek mythology and as such contains more
recognizable figures and forms than much of his earlier oeuvre.
This work bears aesthetic comparison with Picasso's
"Guernica." It has a very modest estimate of $150,000 to
$200,000. It sold for $422,500.

Lot 13 is a
superb 1949 oil on canvas by Matta entitled "L'Exampleur." It
measures 56 1/4 by 78 3/8 inches and was once in the collection of
Roland Penrose in London.

The catalogue provides the following excellent commentary by Marysol
Nieves:

"Although Matta would not join the Surrealist group until 1938, Penrose
and he most certainly met as early as 1936 when the young Chilean
artist was living in London and working in the studios of the Hungarian
expatriate Lazlo Moholy-Nagy and the German architect Walter
Gropius....semi-abstract topographies that reveal biomorphic forms set
against a gelatinous background evocative of ethereal and seemingly
infinite inner and outer worlds in a perreneal state of chaos and
transformation. Washes of pale color - whites, grays, and
greens - reveal Matta's unorthodox approach to painting and his
penchant for dabbing pigment onto the pictorial surface with his
fingers and then using a sponge or cloth soaked with turpentine to
create thin, diaphonouos layers of color. The effects are
potent such as at the bottom of the painting where the excess splatters
and dips of translucent pigment expose a complex three-pronged
mechanistic form suggestive of a transformer or cauldron simultaneously
having with destructive and regenerative power. Subtle bursts
of bright red and gold hues punctuate the composition evincing a
dramatic, staccato-like effect. While totemic corporeal forms
further confound the spectator and imbue this painting with a sense of
mystery and unease....Here and eleswhere in Matta's oeuvre during the
1940s and 1950s machine-like forms are equated with human
bodies suggesting the artist's mistrust of technology and its
dehumanizing effects."

Lot 164 is a
very fine and sharply delineated composition by Matta entitled
"Incatation de l'Urgence." An oil on canvas, it measures 23
5/8 by 28 3/4 inches. It was painted in 1959 and has a very
modest estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $104,500.

Lot 11 is a
large mechanistic-style composition by Matta that was executed circa
1950. Entitled "The Avoiders," it is an oil linen that
measures 48 3/8 by 71 1/2 inches. It was formerly in the
collection of Albert Lewin, the director of the film, "The Picture of
Dorian Gray." Lewin was married to the wife of art dealer
Sidney Janis. The lot has an estimate of $150,000 to $200,000. It sold for $242,500.

Lot 21 is a
good oil and sand on canvas by Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) entitled "Dos
Mujeres." It measures 37 12 by 51 inches and was painted in
1979. It has an estimate of $350,000 to $450,000. It was passed at $290,000.

Lot 169 is a
strong landscape by David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974). A
pyroxilin on masonite, it measures 23 1/4 by 47 1/4 inches and was
painted in 1971. It has a modest estimate of $40,000 to
$60,000. It sold for $80,500.

Lot 10 is a
good oil on canvas by Leonora Carrington (b. 1917) that is entitled
"Occult Scene (Jacob's Ladder)." It measures 39 5.8 by 27 5/8
inches and was painted in 1955. It has an estimate of
$500,000 to $700,000. It failed to sell.

Another
interesting work by Carrington is Lot 65, "Snake Bite Floripondio," an
oil on canvas that measures 23 1/2 by 31 1/2 inches. It was
painted in 1975 and has an estimate of $150,000 to $200,000. It sold for $338,500.

Lot 92 is a
very fine watercolor on rice paper by Diego Rivera. Entitled
"La Ofrenda," it measures 10 3/4 by 15 inches and was painted in 1950.
It has a modest estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $43,750.

Lot 6 is a very nice painting
of packages by Claudio Bravo (b. 1936). An oil, graphite and
pastel on paper laid down on wood panel, it measures 27 1/2 by 39 1/2
inches. It was painted in 1965 and has an estimate of
$300,000 to $400,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 16 is a fine oil on
canvas by Armando Morales (b. 1927). Entitled "Desnudo Contra
Un Zocalo Azul," it measures 38 by 51 1/4 inches and was
painted in 1983. It has an estimate of $150,000 to $200,000. It sold for $242,500.